1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of dental treatment systems that include dental strips used in applying a dental bleach, fluoride, desensitizing agent, antimicrobial agent, anticariogenic agent, or other dental agents to a person's teeth and/or gums. More particularly, the invention relates to placement systems for placing a thin, flexible dental treatment strip over a person's tooth and/or gum surfaces.
2. The Relevant Technology
Virtually all people desire white or whiter teeth. To achieve this goal, people either have veneers placed over their teeth or have their teeth chemically bleached. In the past, people who desired to have their teeth bleached had to submit to conventional in-office bleaching techniques. The process generally involves: (1) making an alginate impression of the patient's teeth; (2) making a stone cast or model of the impression; (3) vacuum forming a dental tray from the model, usually from a sheet of thin ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA) material, and trimming to exclude gingival coverage. This method results in a tray that is soft and flexible and that is very accurately customized to the patient's teeth. However, the method is time consuming and the resulting tray is relatively expensive.
Because of the high cost of producing custom dental trays, less costly alternatives have been developed. One such alternative is a strip of a flexible plastic material coated with a bleaching agent that can be applied to a user's teeth. Such strips are placed against the teeth by the user to cover the labial surface of at least some of the front teeth (e.g., 6-8 teeth) and then folded back to cover the occlusal surface and possibly a portion of the lingual surfaces. Because the dental strips are often very thin and flexible, they can be awkward to place correctly. In many cases, they will fold together and self adhere or become mangled before being properly placed over a person's teeth. Because of this difficulty, replacement and refitting of the strips is often required.
In view of the foregoing, there is an ongoing need for a dental treatment system that would allow a person to more easily and accurately place a dental strip over teeth to be treated.